i'd like to give a shout out to all the pilgrims in the house...
that would be me.
i guess somebody over at penguin books knows about my pilgrim ways because a couple of weeks ago an email landed in my inbox asking me if i would like to review the lost art of real cooking
by ken albala & rosanna nafziger.being as it is the first book i've ever been asked to review on my blogs and the title sounded intriguing i said
ok
a week later a compact, old-fashioned looking book arrived in my snail mailbox.
did i say compact?
i meant jam-packed. literally & figuratively:
this little 'ole book covers jamming, fermenting, sourdoughing, pickling, pasta, pie & pastry baking, all kinds of dairy-making, and a bunch of slow, old-fashioned meat & gamey stuff that's not my game but may be yours.... and a whole lot more including one of my personal favorites; psychic love wine.
i don't believe i've ever held this much useful stuff in one hand!
in a conversational style remeniscient of jane grigson and elizabeth david, albala & nafziger take an industrious stance against ready-made, industrial foodstuffs and root us back into the crafts of historic foodways. all this done with a humorous & knowing look at those of us making pilgrimages back to our kitchens, and to the art of real foodmaking.
and the really, really great news is i have another one to give away!
to enter to win, comment below about some of your most pilgrim-like kitchen practices, how you cook with real food, what you make from scratch, the slow, old way, and why. if you're still eating life in the fast-lane, but want to slow down and savor the tastes of real food - then shout about what you most want to learn about.
you have until midnight thursday july 15th to enter. winner will be picked by random-number generator directly thereafter.
good luck!
I miss the days when I lived in Illinois and bought raw milk from a farmer I knew. In those days, there was a lot of butter making and cooking with butter and buttermilk...the only time I really did a lot of baking...mmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteleslie - ldsmom6@yahoo.com
This is so great!! I'm working toward homesteading right now (not quite there). We make most things from scratch in our house (I have a three year old, hence the "we"). Applesauce, jelly, jame, salsa, bread, rolls, smoked fish are all made from scratch! We grow most of our own veggies and I'm working towards growing our fruit too. I am a child of the early 80's and so very little of the food I grew up in was homespun. We ate TV dinners, and kraft singles, and Stauffers lasagna. I am so happy that my son wouldn't know what any of those are and that he's content to eat our home made food over anything else!
ReplyDeleteI need to win this book to save us from the ramen noodles that buying a house will reduce us to..And I am only kind of kidding..right now in our tiny brooklyn apartment I have sourdough starter in the fridge, the water bath canner bubbling away with some drunken apricots, and the makings for some lamb kabobs marinating in the fridge...we try to cook most of our food from scratch (though it is to gosh darn hot to bake bread right now) so this would be very helpful
ReplyDeleteOoh, this book looks awesome!! I grew up off the grid on an island in the far Northwest corner of Washington State. My great-grandparents were Amish, and the fallen apples still aren't far from that tree I guess. I now live a suburban life, and every day is an exercise in finding ways to live honestly in this environment. Currently, I'm blogging with two friends as we cook our way through the Vegan Fusion cookbook, even though none of the three of us are vegan. I'm also raising a garden, slowly improving the crappy soil in my back yard, and each summer I can more produce from the local farm stand.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the inner city were my mother fed me things that came out of a box. But as an adult I have educated myself about wholesome eating and eating from nature. I make all of my own babyfood from my canned fruits and vegetables and to cut down on consumerism my friends and family get canned jams/preserves as presents (no one has complained so far!). I would like to win this book so I can further learn new ways of preparing food that will positively aid my family!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I ate a vegetable that hadn't been canned by del monte until I went away to college. They just didn't exist in our house. But now I am almost entirely a scratch cook, though I still occasionally use packaged pasta for quick night meals. I would love this book because i haven't been terribly successful with my fermented foods and would love to add those and more pickles to my diet and my repertoire!
ReplyDeleteFor the last year and a half, we have been studiously avoiding the packaged food and fast food. We keep yummy vegetable soup made all the time to eat at the beginning of lunch and dinner and usually also have a salad of some kind. Our vegetable consumption has gone up dramatically, my weight has gone down, and my health has improved dramatically. Also, because of the increase in leafy vegetables and whole fruit, most gotten locally, I have not had issues with depression that has been my constant companion since by teenage years.
ReplyDeleteWow that book looks awesome! I am trying to make a wild sourdough starter right now. No success yet but I shall keep trying!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young mom, I made almost everything from scratch. I've strayed, but am swinging back to kitchen DYI. I've helped along by my 24 year old daughter who bakes her own bread, makes her own yogurt, and lives primarily on beans and rice. How many folks have a young person saying, "Mom! Why are you buying bottled salad dressing! It's so easy!" I did something right.
ReplyDeleteWe garden and can, freeze and dehydrate our bounty. Sometimes my husband bakes our bread. I'd like to continue down the DIY path, but we are often pressed for time. We rarely eat out, but when we do, it's usually real food (not mass-produced stuff).
ReplyDeleteFor the first time in decades, I will be canning this year. Dad taught me how, now I get to teach my SO. She'll enjoy it more this winter when we eat the fruits of our labor. I'd love to have a great reference on making good food from scratch.
ReplyDeleteWhenever someone who doesn't understand the power and love that goes in to growing and cooking real food.... I share this quote from Marlene Dietrich's kitchen: Morgens klage nicht uber die tages arbeit es ist so wunderbar sich muhe zu geben fur die leute man liebt. Do not complain in the morning about the day's work. It is so wonderful to go to trouble for the people one loves.
ReplyDeleteWow, Can I just say that this blog found its way to me, and it feels like I've discovered a lost tribe that understands the archaic language I've been muttering? You are all beautiful people. If you have any questions, ask me directly, I'm easy to find. Ken
ReplyDeleteI'd like to check this book out. I pretty much make everything from scratch including lacto-fermented salsas & sauerkraut but I always want to learn something new.
ReplyDeleteLooks great - thanks for the review and the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI grew up with a mom who escaped from the farm as soon as she could and thought if it came in a metal can, a box, or plastic it was the greatest food ever. As soon as I was old enough to safely see over the stove I was at Granma's side doing everything she'd allow. Granma was still cooking/baking on a woodfired range then. She didn't have indoor plumbing until the early '70's. Coming of age in the '70's I was entranced with the homesteading movement and while not exactly homesteading, I extensively gardened, preserved, and tried to learn and implement as much as I could about traditional and off-the-grid ways of living. Mom said it must've skipped her generation. Today my husband and I have bought a home in the Blue Ridge Mts of VA and we're in the process of converting it to a B&B and smallholding. The gardens and orchard are well underway and next spring we're adding chickens. Hopefully the year after that we'll be adding a couple of Dexter (miniature) cows or milk goats. We grow, hunt, and preserve the majority of our own foods, buy local what we don't (including sweeteners, local honey, maple syrup, sorghum, flour and corn meal)and make trips to the grocery store for very few things. I've relied heavily on Carla Emory's "Old Fashioned Recipe Book" as a reference for decades and it's in tatters and duct tape. This book sounds like it would be an excellent companion volume.
ReplyDeleteI make keefer, yogurt and butter for our family. They are like revelations for folks who are used to commercial - esp the butter. I also make as much fresh cheese as I can. We started making wine this year. We'll know in a year what they are like!
ReplyDeleteI saw this book at a bookstore recently and was thinking about purchasing once pay day arrives! Glad to hear it's super rad.
ReplyDeleteI make a lot of stuff from scratch: jam, pickles, bread, most baked goods. Sometimes it's hard to find time to do it all, but I try. :) And I always want to do more!
I'm doing a lot of canning, have started brewing, make breads, yogurt and other dairy products and cook and bake a lot. I love that there are so many people exploring the same old ways and shunning the fast food world. I hope that with all the blogging and sharing these ideas are spreading because I find that what starts as one experiment can so easily become a way of life. I know I have found my repertoire expanding dramatically each year!
ReplyDeleteI've been canning and freezing in season produce to eat when the summer ends (can't even think about that!) But I would also love to learn more about making diary related foods (butter, cheese, yogurt) from scratch. I bet it tastes so much better!
ReplyDeleteI would love to have this book! If I don't win it I just might have to buy it.
ReplyDeleteI have started making cheese! Simple cheese, but it just seems .... well, kind of miraculous. :-D I started making homemade yogurt and homemade farmer's/cottage cheese because I use about two tubs of each per week, and that's FOUR plastic containers multiplied by 52 weeks, which is one heck of a lot of plastic, which is now NOT having to be recycled. Yogurt making ... dead easy and all of those good probiotics in there. And cottage cheese ... after you add the lemon juice, and it starts to 'clabber', I always have the instantaneous thought of ... Wow, I'm making cheese, how cool is that! (I'm obviously easily awed.) I also can, and particularly like to make and can chutney.
ReplyDeleteI would adore owning this book; I just now added it to my Amazon wishlist, as I can't quite work it into my budget at present.
ReplyDeleteProbably the most Pilgrim-y thing I do is make my own sauerkraut, with a vintage kraut slicing contraption that I found in the basement at my grandparent's. It originally belonged to my grandfather's mother and he remembers her using it to slice cabbage, beets, etc. while he was growing up. It's sort of like the deli slicers you see, for cutting meat. And homemade sauerkraut is so good, you can't imagine buying it at a store... how bland!
I'm just getting into canning but I've always appreciated homemade meals. My family's personal favorite is handmade pizza. The crust just tastes and smells so much better, and it costs a fraction of what you pay for takeout.
ReplyDeleteWhen I married my husband (and 3 stepdaughters) 20 yrs ago, I cooked as I did when I was single, from scratch. My newly acquired family ate up the meals, cakes, cookies, pies and puddings. Today I taught my 3 and 4 yr old granddaughters that whipped cream doesn't come in a can. They were amazed ! They have made baked beans and pies with me. A new generation is learning.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool book! Glad to hear you liked it. I have really enjoyed getting back in to canning. Of course I never really left - canning at least salsa and green beans most years but this year I have really been inspired (can jam thank you) to try many new things. I even have watermelon rind pickles waiting downstairs for me to try tomorrow. Talk about not wasting food!
ReplyDeleteI have always prepared many things from scratch but I am trying to take it a step further this year by planting a garden and making frequent trips to the farmer's market so I can make and preserve more of the base ingredients that I would usually buy like tomato sauce, frozen vegetables, etc. Tonight I made sour cherry jam and it was amazing!!
ReplyDeleteI love making anything from scratch that I can figure out. I am currently tweaking a recipe for home-made "Chicken in a Biscuit", as my husband loves the boxed crackers, but I cringe to buy them for him. Also, if anyone has any idea on home-made cheetos, I'd LOVE to have the recipe.
ReplyDeleteps, the can jam is great
As I type this I'm simmering cannellini beans I soaked overnight and roasting red peppers in my broiler! My cooking leans a bit more Italian, but I'd love to branch out!
ReplyDeleteI'll have some Psychic Love Wine, please! Seriously, you know I'm all about the jam, but one of my ever-growing goals is to bring the kind of attention I give to preserves to the rest of my food life. Yogurt, kombucha, nut butters, and -- yeah -- some of that slow, meaty stuff are some of the things on my list. This book sounds really fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat I truly love--to cook "from scratch" is to connect with "nature/the universe" in a way like none other, to engage albeit minisculely, in alchemy. I have made bread from yeast I "made" myself (potato water left out several days catching the wild native yeasts of my kitchen (O.K., while the bread rose, it wasn't all that high), sauerkraut, jelly from chokecherries, "Indian Lemondade" from sumac.
ReplyDeleteAs a recent college grad, I've only just started to have the time to really delve into making all my foods from scratch.
ReplyDeleteInspired by your can jam, I've been making jam all summer so far (rhubarb, blueberry basil, raspberry, blackberry... and who knows what else by the end of the season!) and I've also been pickling up a storm (asparagus, beets, and onions so far... working on it!)
I'd really love to learn how to make my own dried pasta; it's so cheap to make and it might be time consuming, but it just tastes so much better than store-bought. I also want to start rendering my fats for cooking... I come from a family that had the bacon grease jar next to the stove at all times, so I really want to return to that.
Thanks so much for having such an inspirational blog!
i am one who is definitely looking for a simpler way of life and feel making a lot of my own pantry staples could be the way to go. this book sounds like a dream!
ReplyDeleteOver the past year, I discovered how much tastier (and really not that difficult) homemade pasta and pie crusts are. I'll never go back to boxed pasta again! I've tried unsuccessfully three times to make homemade mozzarella, and it never turns out. I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong and be able to make a batch rather than buy it for upwards of $4 for 8 oz. at the store.
ReplyDeleteWe make our own bread, and yogurt, and just made pasta for the first time (and of course, lots of preserves). We're always looking to try new things, though - this book sounds like a great source!
ReplyDeleteI make my own bacon, sausage, grind my own meat, bake bread, of course jams, pickles, pressure can and so on. Just started getting into infused liquors. Doing a rumpotf (can't wait on that) and willing to try almost anything.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine anything more pilgrim than eating from my own back yard. Last week I harvested some purple potatoes, made fresh pesto from our basil, and several salads. What reminds me of the old way of doing things is cooking with less stuff. I make cakes and pies using only a wooden spoon and a bowl. Of course like Jane above I bake bread, make pasta from scratch (just eggs, salt and flour), jam, pickle and create my own salad dressings. It's fun. I get a workout, know what I am putting in my mouth, and all of it taste delicious.
ReplyDeletei garden and can and jam and all that good stuff but the best is making your own bread. never understood why folks buy breadmakers, as it cuts out the fun part - i remember growing up and my favorite thing was after the first rise my mom let me punch the dough, then she'd knead it, put it back in the bowl, cover it with a blanket and put it in bed. i do the same thing - best insulated place in the house!
ReplyDeleteI am dying to try making pasta from scratch. And sausage. And then make the sauce and serve the pasta with the sausage. I'm also very interested in fermented foods, and I think this book is gorgeous. cwkessler at gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteOh !I would love this book! I make wild ,slow rise sourdough bread...my own jams and jellies and can everything I can get my hands on!
ReplyDeleteThe book looks great!
ReplyDeleteI've got ginger beer and sourdough starters on my counter that take days if not weeks to get going - they taste good, and I know exactly what's in them. I live in an apartment, but grow herbs and the odd tomato outside - again, they taste better and I know exactly what is (and isn't) in them. Next, I'll be trying my hand at pickles and sauerkraut.
I would love to win a copy of the book.. I make most of our food from scratch. I raise our own chickens so I use the eggs and the meat to make my homemade Chicken and dumpling soup... from scratch..... Some of the items I also make homemade are French onion soup, Calico bean soup, bread, cinnamon rolls, pudding, ice cream, rootbeer, cocoa, etc...... on and on.....
ReplyDeleteOh boy... sounds like my kind of book... yippie...
Dawn
dawn-pine-ridge.blogspot.com
This book looks so cool.
ReplyDeleteI was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at 26 (3 years ago) and this is what prompted me to get back to the make-from-scratch way of cooking.
Although my type of diabetes is genetic and has nothing to do with the way I ate before I was diagnosed, which was actually pretty natural and healthy, it completely changed the way I eat now. It is much easier and more satisfying to cook things from scratch...I know what is in everything I eat and this makes it easier for me to count carbs and skip out on hidden ingredients that are often in packaged foods. I also had to quit my job after the diagnosis and decided what better time to get back to the basics and started homesteading. I've been healthier now than I ever was before even with the diabetes. This is reason enough for me to take slow lane and spend time in my kitchen.
This is the first summer I have started preserving food from our garden, and I would love to learn more about canning and food preservation, as well as baking with basic ingredients. Thanks!
My slow food starts in the garden (and the farmer's market in a bind) and through hours searching books and the internet. Preparing meals is like meditation for me and I love spending the time to create a meal. I'm already looking forward to teaching my 1 year old daughter that macaroni doesn't come from a box. I really would like to learn more about breads and pickling, but also I love the idea of knowing more about the traditional slow ways of making a delicious meal!
ReplyDeleteI am a third generation canner,I am following in my grandmother and mother's foot steps.Here at home we grow and put away as much as we can.My husband makes our bacon,pancette and other cured meats.Our greatest food accomplishment, we made Chinook Salmon caviar,it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.If it is made from flour we make it from scratch.ANd I am always looking for new ways to use up the 8 eggs a day we get from our hens.
ReplyDeleteI make our applesauce, jams, vanilla extract, pickled veggies, ice cream, and on and on! I grew up in Alaska where fresh local produce didn't really exist (aside from wild berries in the summer), and there were no local dairies or grain suppliers. I used to get so frustrated with my cooking because it didn't feel "real" to me. I wanted to know where all of my ingredients came from, and I'm so grateful now that I can.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how thrilling it is to read all these comments and picture everyone pickling, jamming, churning, and gardening. I'm one of the authors (so don't choose me!), and I would love to think that whoever wins this book on July 15 will find it as useful and charming as we tried to make it. Also, July 15 is my 26th birthday. Fancy that!
ReplyDeleteOooh I want! It's either this or go back to living with my grandmother who actually cooks. :)
ReplyDeleteLooks interesting. I cook most things from scratch the most time consuming would be bread the way my grandmother taught me, called Sponge Bread it takes all day.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful book! I can tomatoes, make strawberry jam, bake bread, and now will be trying my hand and making pasta from scratch. Wish me luck!
ReplyDeleteLet's see: my husband brews our beer; he makes our no-knead bread from a recipe from the NY times, which is really wonderful bread; last year I canned for the first time- ketchup was first (I'll NEVER go back to commercial - what a difference!) and the tomato sauce we used all year for Friday night pizzas (Steve makes the dough for them); I have a load of salsa verde I canned last year from the twelve pounds of tomatillos I harvested from two plants (the bumblebees were very good to us last year) so I'm not growing any this year); yesterday I canned fourteen half-pints of raspberry jam that the neighbors gave me; I'm waiting on a Harsch fermenting crock from Lehman's (who had the best price) so that I can make sauerkraut from the six or so huge heads of green cabbage out in the garden (I'm making slaw with the red cabbage); when I ordered my quarter grass-fed steer that was field 'harvested' (the most humane way I know of) I asked for and got the suet, from which I'll make soap- I also asked for and got the tongue, liver and oxtails, and since no one else asked for them, I got everybody's, so they are in the freezer. Not sure about the tongues, but my husband grew up in Germany and he loves tongue, so I'm going to give it a try; this late spring we installed a kitchen island and I have permanently affixed my Imperia pasta machine on it so that it would be convenient for making pasta, which it has been- I've been using duck eggs from the farmers market which make incredibly yellow pasta as ducks are better foragers than chickens, so the yolks are practically orange; I'm growing cucumbers for pickles (which reminds me- I really need to build their trellis today) and a special heirloom tomato (High Carotene) with a high acid content for canning; sometime this fall I hope to get over to the coast to get a half tuna so that I can can that up- my sister-in-law does a whole one every year with a buddy of hers and there really is no comparison to the way home-canned and commercial tastes; we installed a pergola to shade the back of our house which is not air-conditioned and I hope to plant wine grapes for it this fall for homemade wine. Next year is bees and chickens. Can you tell I'm unemployed?
ReplyDeleteCanning, baking my own bread, and making yogurt. I try to make most of our food from scratch. I find it's cheaper and easier that way. Not to mention tastier!
ReplyDeleteLooks... like the greatness. I'm sitting at my desk in a high rise in downtown Dallas, but I'm longing for a house, a barn, a coop, some chicks, some egg collecting baskets, a couple fuzzy horses, a couple long-eyelashed cows, and tiny herd of goats, a meadow, and some goat cheese making knowledge. And how about a few new pickling recipes and tips? It's what I think about every day, honestly. HELP!
ReplyDeleteBaking my own bread and rolls and...etc. Next up I'm going to try pasta! And, with any luck, canning :-) This summer has also been my first foray into gardening (with very moderate success, I might add).
ReplyDeleteWe can tomatoes, pickles, jam, and salsa; make our bread and beer; when the fermenting crock gets here I'll make sauerkraut from the cabbage I grew. We're trying to pick up as many we can, just in case. Plus- it's fun!
ReplyDeleteHey Tigress- I have three entries here because I kept getting errors, so I shortened it every time.
ReplyDeleteSorry about that!!!
I love making fresh mozzarella, jams and pickles, and have recently taken on pita bread. We try to use as close to the real deal as possible: plan to cook beans ahead and not use canned for example. It comes from a growing distrust in manufactured food and knowing many corporations do not have my health and best interests at heart. I can't wait to read this book!
ReplyDeleteI'm a little obsessed with canning, especially because I live in an apartment but am surrounded by generous neighbors with fruit trees and grapes. Last year I canned more peaches, applesauce, grape juice, and plum jam than I could eat, but it felt fantastic to see all those jars lined up in my pantry. I also bake bread and grow beans on my balcony. I've been thinking about experimenting with pickling, but so far bread-and-butter pickles is all I've done. I would love this book!
ReplyDeleteI have just started canning, but I have always baked. I make a recipe for pan de polvo that was passed down from my grandmother.
ReplyDeleteI want to get into canning. I'd also like to learn more about making from-scratch pasta sauce. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteOoh, we're very slow-school around here. I make jam, yoghurt and bread from scratch at home. I'm lucky that I work at home too, so I can always wander up to the kitchen to create if things aren't going so well at the computer! This sort of thing gives me a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, too!
ReplyDeletei discovered you as i've been on a mission to make pickles the way my grandmother did- what a great resource and inspiration your blog is! i've had a fury of interest in doing many things i've never done myself; jam, canning, pickles, beer, yogurt, and sausage. i'm at the begining of all this and am enjoying it so much!
ReplyDeleteI really hope I win. No one needs help breaking the frozen/fast meal habit more than me. I have dreams (literally) of baking my own bread and finding time to can, but I have not found the inspiration or mentor to take me there yet. If your review is even 1/2 accurate, this book is the answer I've been searching for.
ReplyDeleteWow, this comments sections is inspiring. I make my own yogurt and jam. I canned tomatoes last year for the first time. The taste difference was awesome. This looks like a cool book. I am putting it on my wishlist.
ReplyDeleteMy very first cooking project was an old hand-me-down cornbread recipe that I made into little muffins with my mom for the school history fair. My mother and I have both pursued "pilgrim" cooking in our own ways through the years, her as a fully costumed educator about pilgrim culture visiting elementary schools and me through building a mud-brick oven and baking from it. "The Lost Art of Real Cooking" looks like an incredible resource and a book that I'd love to cook my way through with my mom. Thanks for the give-away opportunity, it's nice to read everyone's comments on the topic:)
ReplyDeleteI once spent 18 months making my own miso.
ReplyDeleteI am baking breads and pickling but am trying to continually awesomify (yes I made that word up but it fits...) other food areas of my life...looking to get into making jam and canning and making yogurt and all that other fancy goodness!
ReplyDeleteI love baking bread and desserts from scratch and plan to start canning for the first time this weekend! I also grow and dry my own herbs. This book looks great. I might have to pick it up even if I don't win!
ReplyDeletethis book sounds amazing! i'm an OG CSA farmer and canning is not something i do purely for fun (although it is that) - i feed my family through the winter on what i put up in the summer, and hate to see produce go to waste out in the field. have been doing basic water bath stuff for a while now, and just added kimchi & other fermented pickles last year (i heart my crock). am teaching myself to make cheese with our new goat Lily's milk and am having fun with that...
ReplyDeletejust got in-home internet access a year and a half ago...its totally revolutionized my canning recipe repertoire! thanks for what you do to connect preservationists everywhere!
What a fantastic sounding book!
ReplyDeleteWe grow most of our produce at least half the year and can seasonally. For the most part I cook our food from scratch- esp. things like bread, crackers, spreads, dressings, condiments, etc.
I love to can jam and whole fruits. My husband loves to make stock from shrimp shells and chicken bones. Our freezer is so stocked we don't have room for ice trays!
ReplyDeleteI think my most pilgrim-like moments are when I'm making bread. Yeast, water, flour, and honey...kneading, stretching away my stress and day's frustration. Its simple and somewhat mindless and the end result is something that vibrates through my heart. Fresh warm bread. I always make two loaves, one for my sandwiches and the other to pull apart and eat right there. It usually doesn't make it through the night. Can man live on bread alone? Well, with a little honey, this woman can.
ReplyDeleteMy friends all think it's quaint that I can make my own jam, grow and can my own vegetables and bake my own bread...skills I learned from my mother and grandmother and hope to pass to my children. Even though I still take some short cuts (home made pasta is better, but when it's 8pm that box is pretty handy)I love to cook from basic ingredients to finished dish.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved doing things the old-fashioned, often slower, way by hand. I don't use a mixer, but instead mix all my baked goods by hand. I hand whip cream, shake butter in a jar. I make all my bread from sourdough. And of course lots of canning and jamming.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite things to make from scratch right now are ricotta and pasta - and I love using the zest from the lemon that I juiced for the ricotta in making sauce for the pasta - very gratifying. The book looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteA yellow-cake recipe. I'm on the hunt for an easy yellow-cake recipe so that I can make small cakes, freeze them, so that they're ready at a moment's notice. And, crepes. Well, not hunting for that recipe yet, but that's next on my list. Would LOVE that book. I doubt that I'll ever make my own yogurt (although it seems relatively easy), but I'd love to learn about more cooking techniques that I'll probably never have the time to apply!
ReplyDeleteI try to make most foods from scratch, unless I'm pressed for time. I save vegetable scraps and ends and freeze them in order to make veggie stock with them. We stopped using canned beans a while ago and just take the long route of soaking and cooking them now.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I really want to try is baking bread. Nice, easy home made bread. I have yet to try because I have this irrational wariness of yeast. I'm sure I'll get over it eventually, though.
I've slowly cut out processed foods over the past few years and it's amazing how much healthier I am. Today, I'm going to make yogurt and cultured buttermilk from the milk I bought at a local farm. Yesterday I baked sandwich rolls for my husband's lunch. Tomorrow it's home made pizza. Got to learn to make cheese to go on it though!
ReplyDeleteI have been learning how to cook since I was 13 but only within the past year or so have really tried to start making most of my foods from scratch. since I just graduated college, from a place where I had only access to dorm food and no real kitchen, I am so excited to start out in a new apartment and be able to make more real food from scratch without being pressed for time or space. this book would really help out with that. so far my favorite things to make from scratch are bread and hummus. I'd like to try yogurt and cheeses, and in general, anything fermented!
ReplyDeleteGreat giveaway, i think i make 90% of the things i eat from scratch, i do get lazy and go out and buy bread, i do not grow my own vegetables but i do bake from scratch, i make all my home cooked meals, but the things that are important to me is my yogurt, i make my own yogurt and have a culture that i use, i pickle a few things too like beets etc. That is all i could think of for now.
ReplyDeleteMore and more I'm trying to make from scratch. Right now my absolute favorite from scratch item is mayonnaise made from our farm fresh eggs and light olive oil. Yummy!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great giveaway. I seem to keep adding more and more to my cooking from scratch, old-time repertoire. Currently it includes yoghurt, bread, jams, chutneys, I've had a go at beer and I'm really getting into slow-cooked stews-beef and guinness stew is my favourite.
ReplyDeleteI've switched back to home-made bread - which my son dearly loves - and jamming. I especially enjoy making fruit butters and have a batch of slow-cooker apple butter on the go as I type! This book sounds like a marvelous addition to any kitchen!
ReplyDeleteI love the IDEA of this book, I don't own that many cookbooks, but this is one that seems so useful, I think it would be a lovely addition to my kitchen.
ReplyDeleteI have to confess the title "The Lost Art of Real Cooking" kinda pulls at my heart strings. I've had the distinct privilege of growing up in a family where I had 3 Grandmothers (1 Swedish, 1 Dutch, 1 German; long story) and each and every one of them did all their baking and most of their cooking from scratch. My Mom also did 90% of all her cooking from scratch because my sister had (and still has) a ton of food allergies. So the idea of not coming home from school to the smell of something cooking or baking has always been a foreign concept for me.
ReplyDeleteI can remember Mom making whole wheat bread every week for us to have sandwiches for lunch at school. And my Grandma Nelson's to-die-for gingersnaps were the one thing I simply had to have whenever my family sent me a care package during college. Jars of jam came from Mom's pantry downstairs, not the grocery store.
Now that I have a house of my own, I'm broadening my own food experiences and experiments. Thanks to tigress I'm exploring canning, I'm beginning to learn more about my local farmers markets, and experimenting with foods/ingredients/methods I've never tried (pickling fruit).
In part much of my desire to cook for myself and my friends stems from the fact that I'm allergic to corn (primarily corn starch and corn oil). Which means eating out is potentially hazardous (not life threatening, just nausiating).
But the journey into foodie-ness has been fun and I've managed to drag several of my friends along for the ride. So I say be adventurous, be curious, and "play with your food!" (But don't throw it at anyone.)
We're involved with our local CSA and have been fun pickling and canning
ReplyDeleteI just made blackberry jam with blackberries from my property, thanks to my bees (I am a beekeeper), I got record amounts! Love old, slow, old-fashioned ways of living and doing thigs, with the modern where its convenient, of course.
ReplyDeleteThough I've fallen off canning recently (just too much time around hot hot liquids with my little ones; I'll be back at it) I still am making my own bread and have made chicken stock on and off--I was recently reminded of how delicious it was and am re-committed. With a new freezer for the garage coming tomorrow, I will be making beef stock for the first time as well.
ReplyDeleteDo you have time for a book? I make my own pickles, jam, can my own beans, can/pickle/preserve anything that'll stand still long enough to go into a jar, make my own buttermilk, mascarpone, mozzarella, bread, marmalade, dulce de leche, stock, pick and preserve our own blueberries, cherries, strawberries, apples, etc...
ReplyDeleteI prefer homemade. It's that simple. Anything that could help me is more than welcome! What a neat sounding book.
Just learning more and more in the last couple of years. I have started a nice size organic garden and we have 10 chickens on our half acre plot just outside the city limits. I've made kefir, mozzarella, ricotta, sour cream and whipped cream from fresh raw milk and over the last year I have been making kombucha. I'm currently working through cupcake recipes and hope to learn ways to use healthier substitutes and still have them taste great. My next forray will likely be sourdough breads and other fermented foods.
ReplyDeleteIn general, I have a distinct tendency to look at food and go, "I bet I could make that." And I can't see fruit on a tree (city trees, no less, on street sides and hanging over alleys) and let it go to waste. This leads to way too much jam and homemade bread every week and creme fraiche getting tasty on top of the fridge. That last is more french than pioneer, but it's delicious and hard to buy (or at least expensive).
ReplyDeleteI make my own bread, jam and other canned goods, mozzarella, and occasionally butter, creme fraiche, buttermilk, stock. I have also moved to making pie crusts and cakes from scratch rather than using box mix or premade crust. I want to start making my own tortillas. I crave the process of making things from scratch. I want more.
ReplyDeleteI am in love with bread making...my next venture will be homemade pasta. With the summer crop of cucumbers starting up, I have been gathering pickle recipes--trusted and tried and a couple new ones. This book looks amazing...can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteI am constantly trying to make everything from scratch - especially if it can be made with produce from my garden. My husband takes a jar of homemade catsup with him to work and all the men drool with envy. I hope to start making cheese once I find a good local source of cream.
ReplyDeleteAll cakes and cookies are by scratch in my home - no boxes, here! Also, I've been baking my own bread and making my own condiments (jellies, jams, catsups, relishes, etc). Also, I haven't bought a can of whole tomatoes in YEARS!
ReplyDeleteAt times I get a bit overwhelmed, what with the goats and bees and chickens and gi-freaking-normous vegetable garden, but then I make a batch of fresh golden pasta, or open a bottle of homemade beer, or even slather homemade mayo on bread, and it makes it all worthwhile. I was delighted, perhaps past the point of reason, to notice pickling cukes on the vine this afternoon!
ReplyDeleteI can't compete with the other entries - I can only put my own out there. In the last two years, I've been making my own (freezer) jam, learning to bake yeast bread (and now do it weekly for the household), making my own butter from cream (for the last 8-10 months or so), learning to make cheese, drying herbs and spices from the garden (I only buy salt, pepper, cumin and cinnamon these days), and I'm finally learning to can! I've convinced my Netflix-loving, computer-gaming ex-frat boy husband that gardening is good - he made a monster stir-fry full of sugar snap peas, carrots, broccoli bits and flowers & leaves, mustard flowers & leaves & seed pods, onion bulbs & tops, garlic leaves, and I can't remember what else straight from the garden. I'm entering my first cooking competitions at the state fair at 40. And I can't wait till we can have chickens!
ReplyDeleteI like to make pasta and dumplings from scratch. It's quick and simple and I love the fresh taste!
ReplyDeleteWe plant a large garden. I always have plenty to use for meals and to put-up.
ReplyDeleteCanning enough to last through the year is now part of my pilgrim practices, especially canning tomatoes! I am scouting out dairy sources to start making butter, cheese and yogurt. Eating seasonally continues to be a tempting mission these days but one step at a time... I do it because i like knowing where my food comes from and I want to be actively a part of what i'm eating everyday. Self-suffiency, supporting local farms and eliminating excessive waste is the goal.
ReplyDeleteI've started to make my own yogurt and am going to try canning pickles and fruits for the first time this summer. I made some peach jam last weekend and have been enjoying some of it every morning in my homemade yogurt. I've just started recently to try and buy locally as much as I can so I'm making baby steps.
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE to have this book!!! I put it on my wishlist already.
ReplyDeletewhen i first moved to the island, i learned to cook in the woodstove. well, in and on. then, we redid the kitchen and didn't have water. i am such a pioneer. i want this book so bad! thanks.
ReplyDeleteMy dream is to spend my days at home cooking slow food, my reality is two people x two full time jobs = creative approach to "fast food". we're pretty good at the steamed brown rice, greens from our garden, topped with miso-tahini sauce. I aspire to more though...I just read Wild Fermentation and am in love with it. On July 4 I started 8 different jars of sauerkraut, using as many items from my garden as I had to spare. The one I am most excited about includes nasturtium seed pods, leaves and flowers. My next project is sourdough starter.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much cook everything from scratch. I do water-bath and pressure canning, bread baking, etc. I do it because it's more frugal and also because it tastes better. I also love knowing I have the security of having food put by for difficult times and every day eating.
ReplyDeleteIt may not take all day, but I have been consistently making my own pizza dough for 3 months instead of buying the refrigerated bag at the grocery.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite thing to make at home is Gravlax... people don't understand how easy it is to do and so much less expensive than smoked salmon when made DIY style with trout! I love to savour it with lots of dill and lemon!
ReplyDeleteI'm just embarking down the road of jams and breads and all things made the old fashioned way... Thrilled to discover your blog! :)
I can, freeze, have a small garden, make jam and jelly, bake bread and all desserts in the house. I try to add some new things every so often as well as get ideas and recipes from this blog and others.
ReplyDeleteWell, like a lot of people these days, I am returning to my roots. I have an urban farm (about 1/5 of an acre) with an orchard and a huge veggie patch. I am hoping to add chickens soon. Right now, we grow what we can to eat, shop locally and organically and make anything we think we are capable of. Today's dinner will be home made pasta with local pork meatballs and heirloom tomato marinara. I can't wait to eat! I hope this book is all that I dream of - LOL!
ReplyDeleteI love making things from scratch, and I love to forage. (My yard is, unfortunately, too shady to grow much.) One day last summer I dug clams and went blueberry picking in the same day. When went home, I cooked dinner and dessert from them. It was heaven. Recently I've gotten into making fermented foods like kombucha and kimchi. Yogurt is another new favorite. When I learned that you can grow a sourdough culture from wild yeasts floating in the air, it was a fine day. Most other people my age (early 20s) think that I am strangely intense about food, but for me it's just tremendously exciting. Which is why this book looks so cool.
ReplyDeleteBummer I saw this to late. :) But I will throw out my two cents anyway. I am really into fermentation this year. I started earlier with your citrus pickles and now I am on to the cucumber pickles. They are salt-fermenting with a few garlic scapes on my counter as I type. I am really excited to try them.
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